School bullying has evolved through the years and now includes cyber threats.

Now, a law is evolving to protect against students bullying teachers on the Internet.

The School Violence Prevention Act changed Dec. 1 to include a provision for punishment of students bullying teachers online.

“Technology has created a whole other set of issues,” said Cleveland County Schools Superintendent Bruce Boyles. “We didn’t think about bullying over the Internet 15 years ago.”

The law states that bullying and harassment are disruptive to the students' ability to learn and the schools' ability to educate.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time that a Legislature has ever singled out a class of students uniquely to face criminal liability for speech,” said Student Press Law Center Executive Director Frank LoMonte. “We just don’t send people to jail in America for ridiculing public officials.”

Examples of cyberbullying include:

-Building a fake profile or website

-Posting on the Internet to encourage others to comment on private information about a school employee.

-Posting a real or doctored image of a school employee on the Internet.

-Alter school computer data or software.

Students found guilty of cyberbullying may be transfered to another school, and the offense is punishable as a Class 2 misdemeanor.

Cleveland County hasn’t seen many cases of bullying in the system, but Boyles recalls a short-lived incident on Facebook when he first started as superintendent

“It hasn’t been a large issue. There have been some occasions where we have had minor issues with students creating websites and saying untrue things,” Boyles said. “My opinion is that we need to be careful and vigilant regardless of who is being bullied, whether it’s staff or a student.”

Halifax Media Group contributed to this report. Reach Jessica Pickens at 704-669-3332 or jpickens@shelbystar.com. Follow on Twitter at @StarJPickens.